Annual Report to Education Queensland

Year Ending June 2008.

This report is the first report for the Direct Services Agreement between Speld Qld Inc and Education Queensland for the year 2007-2010.

The global statement agreed to by both parties is:

The enhancement of educational outcomes for students with learning difficulties and learning disabilities.

This report is an analysis of the data relating to the following five focus areas as agreed to in Accountability Schedule 2.

1. Advisory Line.


2. Tutor Service.


3. Professional Development.


4. Assistive Technology.


5. Parent Workshops – including analysis of data by Research Assistant.

 

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1. Advisory Line.

The advisory Line continues to be our most important link to parents, schools and other community members as a means of providing support, information and advice. While the telephone remains our most common form of communication, especially with parents; email is becoming increasingly popular.

As a result of this initial communication, callers may make additional appointments with either the Education Advisors; the Academic Assessment coordinators ; the Tutor Coordinator or the Assistive Technology coordinator to visit the office on a one- to- one basis.

Information packs are provided regularly, especially to first time callers. According to a client’s specific request, a variety of detail - a copy of the latest newsletter, the brochure and a membership form, is also included. Callers are referred to upcoming seminars and workshops that may be helpful to them.

Speld Qld Inc has a preferred professional data base of educational psychologists and Guidance Officers who conduct psychometric assessments for parents and schools. In 2007 we introduced an academic assessment service which is conducted by our education advisors. This service is proving to be increasingly popular and there is an average of five (5) families seeking assessments for their children per month.

Since the Advisory Line is one of our most important services, an analysis of calls during the past twelve (12) months is included.

The Advisory Line consists of two types of callers – the Specific Callers and the Non- Specific Callers.

Certain months of the year attract most of the specific learner calls. The calls are taken by the Education Advisors and relate specifically to the needs of the student. Speld Qld Inc also receives many non-specific calls that do not relate to any one particular learner. These may include membership enquiries and enrolments, bookings or enquiries about workshops, requests for information, pamphlets etc.

During 2007/08 Speld Qld Inc fielded 910 callers on the Advisory Line.

Of these 910 calls, thirty – six percent (36%) related to specific calls and sixty-four percent (64%) related to non-specific calls.

The following calls refer to our Specific learner calls.

Our busiest months for student related calls were May, July, August and September.

Ninety-five percent (95%) of these calls were made by family members seeking direction in their efforts to support their children. Three percent (3%) of other calls came from adults looking for help to deal with their own literacy problems. The remainder of the calls were from teachers and other professionals involved in the area of learning difficulties.

The bulk of our clientele on the Advisory Line therefore continues to be parents.

The age range of the children about whom these parents were concerned was as follows:

Year Level	Percentage
Preparatory	2%
Years 1-3	34%
Years 4-7	45%
Year 8-12	14%
Adult	4%
Tertiary	0.6%

A reduction in calls concerning children in Preparatory school was noticed for the period 2007/08.

In 2006/07 six (6%) of calls came from parents interested in early intervention - often involving communication delays – for their children of pre school age. During 2007/08 only 2 % of the families called with concerns about the progress of their children in the Preparatory year. Perhaps this drop in the number of concerns about children in this age range, is owing to the fact that the new Preparatory Year introduced in 2008 in Queensland schools pays more attention to the needs and developmental stages of young children.

Parents are constantly searching for strategies to support their children in the 1-3 years of schooling. Thirty- four percent (34%) of parents fell into this category for the year 2007/08.

The majority of the calls, forty- five percent (45%) came from parents who have children in the 4-7 year levels. Parents become more concerned as they see a succession of interventions over the years that have had little success in helping their children to learn, and they seek more specific strategies.

Fourteen percent (14%) of the calls were on behalf of students in the 8-12 year level cohort. The most common concern of these parents is the gradual disengagement of their children from learning and from the school system. Speld Qld Inc. has a policy of encouraging parent-school partnerships and recommends that parents try to work with the school to open up new avenues for these students.

Four percent (4%) of the calls were from adults who were concerned about their own lack of literacy skills and a further 0.6% of calls came from tertiary students. In our communication with parents it has been reported to us that while students in universities are well supported with resources e.g laptops, tape recorders and other special considerations such as having a reader/writer for examinations; this level of support is not as forthcoming for students in years 8 -12.

As expected, the majority of our callers, nearly ninety-five percent (95%) were seeking information about specific learning disabilities. Within this area of learning disabilities, seventy-four percent (74%) were calls about literacy, and four percent (4%) about numeracy. A small number of calls were related to ADHD, Autism or social and emotional problems. Three percent (3%) of the calls concerned behaviour and eighteen percent (18%) of parents were seeking advocacy for their children. Thirty-seven percent (37%) were seeking information and advice. Nineteen percent (19%) were wanting a psychometric assessment outside the school system and eleven percent (11%) were wanting academic assessments at Speld Qld Inc.

There is a growing demand for academic assessments at Speld Qld Inc as so many of the Support Teachers Learning Difficulty (ST:LD) in schools are `time poor` and cannot respond to the level of demand for academic assessments from parents.

Many parents express gratitude for the time and information given by our service. On many occasions callers mention that there does not seem to be any other avenue of support for them. In order to quantify this feedback Speld Qld Inc. has conducted a sampling of parents who have called the Advisory Line. This has taken the form of a questionnaire forwarded to parents.

Below is an analysis of the data.

Q 1. How effective did you find the support from Speld Qld Inc. on the Advisory Line?

• Average of 4.6 0n a 1-5 scale.

Q 2. Was the information and advice given to you of practical assistance?

• Average of 4.9 0n a point scale.

Q 3. Did it assist you to have your child diagnosed by a professional whose name was supplied by Speld Qld Inc?

• Average of 5 on a 1 to 5 scale.

Q 4. How helpful are the range of seminars presented by Speld Qld Inc?

• Average of 4.8 on a 1 to 5 scale.

 

Information is also available as to the setting/origin of the calls.

 

Setting	Percentage
State Schools	49%
Catholic Schools	24%
Independent Schools	20%
Post Secondary –T.A.F.E etc.	0.7%
University	1%
Workplace	2%
Unemployed	0.7%
Other	1.8%

 

From these statistics it can be seen that the majority of calls come from parents within the state school sector. However, when the numbers from the Catholic and Independent schools are combined, the difference between the school populations is minimal – four percent (4%).

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2. Tutor Service

The Speld Qld Inc tutor service provides access to professional and experienced teachers for children or adults who request private tutoring in academic areas. The tutor service coordinator, who also works as the Education Advisor, works 14 hours per week. Seven of these hours are spent managing the Tutor service.

As stated in the Schedule 2 Performance Indicators all Tutors must be currently registered with the Queensland College of Teachers, have at least three years teaching experience and possess a current Blue Suitability Card.

The prospective Speld Tutor, after the submission of the completed application form attends an interview with the Executive Officer. At this interview the tutor is given a case study of the assessment of a child and asked for his/ her interpretations and recommendations for strategies that could be used to help the child. Implications for tutoring the child are then discussed.

There are currently 45 tutors on the Speld Qld Inc data base.

After the initial interview, and follow –up contact with referees, tutors are issued with a Speld Certificate which confirms their status as a Speld Tutor. These certificates are re - issued annually, subject to checks by the Tutor coordinator, on the current status of Blue Cards for each teacher.

The following data is an analysis of the data received from a survey of Tutors.

Q 1. How effective do you think the Tutor Interview and registration process is at Speld Qld Inc.?

• Average response: 4.85 on a 1 to 5 scale.

 

Q 2. Rate the topics and content of the Professional Development workshops in 2007/08?

• Average response: 4.6 on a 1 to 5 scale.

Q 3. How relevant do you think the semester reports are for parents?

• Average response: 4.4. on a 1 to 5 scale.

 

Q 4. How well supported do you feel as a tutor at Speld Qld Inc?

• Average response 4.9 on a 1 to 5 scale.

 

 

All tutors are required to become Corporate members of Speld Qld Inc. The corporate membership is $99. An individual membership,($55) is also necessary for Parents to access a tutor at Speld Qld Inc. Parents are asked to complete an application form which clearly outlines the Literacy or Mathematics needs that their child demonstrates. The Tutor coordinator considers the information in the completed form and assigns that child to a tutor whose skills best fit his/ her needs.

The additional income that is derived from the tutors paying the corporate rate to Speld Qld Inc allows Speld Qld Inc to:

• Finance the Professional Development workshops held for tutors and pay the presenters.
• Afford some funds to cover tutors for public liability and professional indemnity.

The Tutors are asked to rate the effectiveness of the Professional Development workshops and to offer suggestions of topics for future Professional Development.

Tutors are also required to forward a student progress report to the parents and to Speld Qld Inc at the end of every semester which clearly identify the intervention strategies implemented for each student.

Speld Qld Inc is dedicated to providing on going professional development for our tutors.

We invited John Ryan, the Director of Queensland College of Teachers, to inform our Management committee of the changes to professional standards for teachers and the new professional development requirements for teachers – both of which begin in 2009. As a result of this meeting Speld Qld Inc is investigating the opportunity to offer professional development in 2009 for tutors and teachers from outside Speld Qld Inc. which will comply with the criteria for teachers to accrue points to maintain the required hours of professional development.

It is important, when parents have accessed a tutor at Speld Qld Inc to gauge their response as to the effectiveness of the service. A number of parents were asked for their response. The general consensus was that parents overall were satisfied with the quality of the service but there was concern from one parent about the length of time that she had to wait for a tutor to be allocated to her child. This aspect of the tutor service is being addressed.

The tutor service provided by Speld Qld Inc. is therefore accountable, has quality, and addresses individual student needs.

 

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3. Professional Development.

This year we have maintained the parent workshops, the dyslexia workshops for teachers and continued to provide professional development for our tutors.

These workshops are very well attended, not only by parents, but also teachers, community workers, speech pathologists etc. ; as not only is the opportunity given to learn new information, the attendees also have the opportunity to talk with other parents and colleagues who find themselves in similar situations.

The table below gives an indication of the quality and relevance of the morning workshops presented at Speld Qld Inc.

"How informative did you find this workshop to be?"

Month	Year	Average 1-10 scale.
September	2007	9.0
August	2007	8.3
November	2007	9.3
March	2008	8.5
April	2008	8.2
May	2008	9.2
June	2008	9.4

In an effort to gauge how many attendees were encouraged to become a member of Speld Qld Inc. the following question was asked:

"If you are not currently a member of Speld Qld Inc,. do you intend to become a member as a result of attending today`s seminar?"

 

Month	Response
September 2007	5
August 2007	12
November 2007	4
March 2008	5
April 2008	1
May 2008	3
June 2008	5

 

The majority of the attendees are already members so the question re membership does not apply to them.

We have held in the past both Level One and level Two Dyslexia workshops. This year for the first time we are holding a Level Three workshop. Attendees at the Level One workshop rated the workshop as either good or excellent. Unfortunately the Level Two workshop was not held in 2008 owing to the unavailability of the presenter. This workshop will be held in 2009.

 

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4. Assistive Technology.

The Assistive Technology Coordinator/ Education Advisor, works ten (10) hours per week during which time a variety of services are offered to members. These include the viewing of software by members (at no additional expense to their membership) at the Speld Qld Inc. campus; and conducting workshops for parents at the Speld Campus Coorparoo.

Owing to the fact that the previous assistive Technology resigned in February and that Speld Qld Inc was without a Technology Coordinator until August, the number of demonstrations has been significantly reduced.

However since the employment of a new technology coordinator in July, four (4) individual parent demonstrations have been held. The parents are always grateful for the relaxed, informative sessions about what computer programs will be useful for their child.

We network with Jeff Souter the coordinator of the Disability Support Service Unit at Woolloongabba and we keep a comprehensive list of software on site for members to explore.

The Assistive Technology coordinator has also been involved, along with the Education Advisor, in compiling the data and structures for the three Pilot Parent Technology workshops. These workshops were held at Burleigh Heads State School at the Gold Coast; Humpybong State School at Sandgate; and at the Speld Qld campus at Coorparoo. The feedback from these workshops is identified in the following report Participant Responses To Questionnaires On The Speld Pilot Parent Assistive Technology Workshops 2008.

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